The exact sciences are those that produce scientific knowledge from applied, empirical, quantifiable, and generally experimental theoretical models. These models are based on the steps of the scientific method and objectivity as mechanisms for understanding their different areas of study. For example:mathematics, biology, computing.
Exact sciences are also known as pure sciences, hard sciences or fundamental sciences.
They are distinguished from the so-called soft sciences or human sciences, whose axes of study are based on conjecture, qualitative analysis, and experiments that yield uncertain, non-predictive results.
This is not a universal or definitive classification of sciences , but rather these terms—hard, pure, exact—are usually used somewhat colloquially to distinguish certain fields of knowledge . In fact, no contemporary science embraces or claims paradigms of exactness or immutable truth , regardless of the methods and approaches on which it is based.
Not even the natural or experimental sciences can be considered truly exact sciences today. Even so, this term is commonly used to often pejoratively distinguish between more formal fields of scientific practice and others that are less strict or less recognized as such.
See also: Natural sciences in everyday life
Examples of exact sciences
- Physics. Often understood as mathematics applied to the description of phenomena and forces occurring in the surrounding reality, it is based on the aspiration for a formal measurement and theoretical description of the universe. To achieve this, it employs experimentation, observation, and numerous instruments, although in some variants, such as quantum physics and even astrophysics, the degree of uncertainty and conjecture is much greater.
- Chemistry. The study of the functioning of matter and its atomic relationships, chemistry undertakes experimentation as a way of demonstrating, with varying degrees of accuracy, a set of its fundamental theoretical principles, replicable in the laboratory and with numerous demonstrable everyday applications.
- Mathematics. Since it operates on the basis of a set of relationships, signs, and proportions of a logical and abstract nature, mathematics, as a formal science , uses exact and determinate methods that are repeatable and deductible, and are more or less experimental. It is considered the epitome of the formal sciences, as many others, such as physics, use it to establish their interpretation of the world.
- Geology. Interested in the formation and origin of the various elements that make up the Earth, this exact science draws on other disciplines such as chemistry and physics to obtain demonstrable, experimental results, accompanied by a theoretical formulation regarding the subsurface layers and the processes they undergo. However, there may be some room for speculation regarding the historical recomposition of the substrata that formed the planet.
- Biology. The study of life is also a field closely tied to the principles of the scientific method, which propose observation, examination, hypothesis , and experimental reproduction to verify the accuracy of assumptions. In this sense, biology is related to other natural sciences in its approach to the living world in its various possible scenarios.
- Biochemistry. Hand in hand with chemistry and biology, this science focuses on understanding the chemical processes of living matter, and accuracy is always an important goal. The detailed study of the molecular relationships that enable life opens up much more complex fields of intervention and experimentation with demonstrable results.
- Pharmacology. A step ahead of biochemistry and hand in hand with medicine, pharmacology seeks to be as precise as possible in its interventions on the human body with various natural and artificial compounds , in order to generate well-being and cure illnesses and diseases.
- Computing. A product of the application of mathematics to the development of complex logical systems, it is an exact science as long as its results are predictable: systems can be built that carry out tasks in a verifiable and demonstrable manner, very close to exactness (although many computational experiments show an inevitable margin of error in most systems, as any Windows user knows).
- Oceanography. The science that investigates the composition of the waters and depths of seas and oceans draws on biology and chemistry to understand the biotic and physical-chemical processes occurring in these specific areas. To this extent, its studies are reproducible in the laboratory and verifiable in practice.
- Medicine. A combination of other exact sciences applied to the logic and functioning of the various organs and tissues of the human body, with the aim of alleviating their ailments and illnesses, as well as repairing their damage and trauma as much as possible. It aspires to a significant degree of accuracy, since human lives depend on it.
